OTD Newsroom

On May 5, the OTD 2024 inaugural class was commissioned into service as fieldwork and capstone students. Thirty-eight OTD 2024 students were joined by family, friends, faculty, and staff at the Grand Hall of the Trent Semans Center. Students will spend the next year completing two 12-week fieldwork assignments and 14 weeks executing capstone projects. 

From interacting with visiting professor, Shawn Roll, OTR/L, RMSKS, FAOTA, FAIUM, to poster and podium presentations, the Occupational Therapy Doctorate program infused vital topics into Departmental Research Day conversations.

Emily D’Agostino, DrPH, MS, Med, MA, presented “Feasibility of Going Places: A Park‐based Active Transportation Toolbox to Promote Youth Physical Activity and Access to Healthy Community Spaces.”

The Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) has granted the Doctorate of Occupational Therapy program Pre-Accreditation status.  In a letter to the department, ACOTE states the program “would appear to meet the 2018 ACOTE Accreditation Standards if fully implemented by the plans.” 

Join us for the Student Scholarship Showcase set for 4 to 6 p.m., Friday, May 5 at the Trent Semens Center, 8 Searle Street, Durham, N.C. 

As many as 50 projects will be on display.  Class of 2024 students will present their capstone project proposals while Class of 2025 students will share the results of their year-long community partner projects. 

Light refreshments will be served. 

Special thanks to the following partners: 

Atrium Health

Camp Attitude

Coastal Kids Therapy

The Class of 2024 Commissioning Ceremony is set for 6 p.m., Friday, May 5 in the Great Hall of the Trent Semens Center. 

As they wrap up their didactic instruction, members of the Class of 2024 are preparing to begin their full-time fieldwork experiences over the next year. 

Sarah Barton, BCP, MS, OTR/L, ThD, has been named a Duke AHEAD Fellow. The Duke AHEAD fellow program identifies education leaders who demonstrate the potential for major and ongoing contributions to health professions education within Duke or the overall profession. Fellows are early and mid-career educators with leadership roles within an educational program and/or have developed courses, curricula, and innovative educational materials and methods.

Following a week of orientation, 44 students in the Class of 2025 were officially welcomed into the profession of occupational therapy during Duke Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) Fall Convocation on Friday, August 12, 2022. 

Congratulations to Duke OTD student, Belden Long, on winning the AOTA Inventors Showcase (think Shark Tank!) with her company justb! 

Dr. Emily M. D'Agostino had this article accepted by the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association: Standardizing, Harmonizing, and Protecting Data Collection to Broaden the Impact of COVID-19 Research: The Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics-Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) Initiative.

OTD faculty and students presented at AOTA’s annual meeting in April. Congratulations to Tomeico Faison, OTD, on receiving the Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Occupational Therapy! 

Congratulations to the following students who did an outstanding job representing Duke OTD at AOTA: